I did not make it time for the mutation-nation. Sometimes I don’t have control over what life brings around and this time it was more clients work. I am put here this developing concept for a mutated polar beast, or just polar beast. Too early to say whether it’s mutated. It looks kind of cool, though. I like the oblong shape of it. I guess it could have rocket launcher mechanism assembled to its back and as that, be used to protect a secret polar base. whoo-hoo!

Back to iPhone smearing. I have got so much going on at the minute that if  make the deadline for the “mutation nation” contest – it will be a success on its own. I know I am going for something with claws… that’s pretty much it. I like the sketch, though and if not now – I will use it oneday.

Just as I was becoming a Sketchbook mobile convert, the Brushes poked it’s head out with its somehow quicker and more responsive interface.  It’s a good thing I don’t have to make up my mind.

We went to a great place yesterday. Bodeans in Soho – the best BBQ ribs in London, apparently. I’ve not had much experience with London’s BBQ joints but it was really close to Carnivore’s Heaven, by my standards. I am sure I’ll be back there pretty soon.

So this morning I did this porca, I mean Posca-Pens sketch of fat baby piglets (whose ribs we had for lunch yesterday) surrounded by the BBQ sauce. I have got to buy more of those. Pens, not ribs.

These are by far one of the best drawing/doodling tools I have laid my hands on. The paint from Posca markers is completely opaque which means you can paint with lighter color over any dark areas color and it you’ll get results. It’s almost like having an undo button in traditional media. No line or shape is final. The stuff dries very fast so you can come back and make corrections as many times as you like (subject to material you’re drawing on) and add highlights at the very end not worrying about it in the initial stage. You can obviously see smudging on this particular drawing but it’s because I did it very quickly. Otherwise, if you give it a few minutes to properly set – there’s no stopping you. I understand my posca-pigs might not convince you but look here, at art by Mr. jontofski on flickr and tell me I am wrong when I say these are the ultimate doodling tools!

Latest issue of ImagineFX and ‘The Rough Guide to Thailand’. We’re off in 20 days and still haven’t book anywhere to stay and the trip plan itself is still, well – rough to say the least, so I guess I will do some reading of the latter tonight and take the magazine to work tomorrow.  Some cool artwork here by the looks of it!!

Presenting the first contestant to the Mutation Nation challenge on ArtOrder. A cross between a Tarsier and a Peacock. I did this sketch this morning on the tube and coloured it quickly with some custom brushes during the lunch-break.

It’s an idea to explore – matching something that’s generally accepted as symbol of beauty (or was it vanity?) with creature that found its place on a list of 10 Ugliest Animals which I think is both wrong and cruel taking the fact this little fella belongs to endangered category(talking about adding insult to injury).

Eventually, I will probably go with something bigger, crazier, with bigger claws, teeth and preferably a gunner turret in place of the head.  We’ll see…

Friday monkey project. I was just going to put a plain sketch up as I only had 10 minutes to do this update when I realised there’s so many quick ways to spruce the monkey up with a little help of a friend.

Three sets of levely splatter and watercolour brushes downloaded from brushking.eu gave it a much better, Friday vibe.

Enjoy your weekend!

PS. It is meant to be brushking.eu, not net. I will correct that later, promise.

I feel really bad for the poor Ms Brancheau, the trainer at SeaWorld Orlando who fell victim to ‘Tilly’ a big killer whale, attraction of the Florida’s amusement park, yet one has to wonder: how a whale, who already had a “history of violence” can still be considered fit for these kinds of shows?

In fact, how these shows still be so popular?

It is fairly common knowledge that life in captivity, in small basins does harm to those animals used to travel dozens of miles on daily basis. In addition they have a highly developed sense of hearing which must be making them extremely sensitive and (affected by) to noise and chaos in the amusement parks like the one in Orlando.

Stressed out beyond imagination, depressed, is it really so difficult to understand why a big Tillikum, a predator in its natural state, lost it? He is, after all a Killer Whale, for gods sake!  Should we, perhaps, wake up to this?

I have recently watched a movie The Cove exposing a gruesome instance of animal abuse (in this case, dolphins and porpoises). And it has quite disturbed me and opened my eyes to the fate we humans are cooking up of those poor creatures by sheer greed and ignorance…

As little power as I have over that, I say – boycott these shows, don’t include them in your schedule while on holidays. I am glad I did last time I had the chance and I know I will never go to one of these.

///…I sketched this quickly on my way to work – no references, so excuse it does not quite resemble the actual killer whale…///

Speaking of character design, there is a really cool challenge going on on the art order. The theme is Mutation Nation. I am taking part. It should be fun. I am planning to do some research tonight.  Get sketching.

Some vector fun, based on a sketch I did a while ago. It could probably be useful for an article on how to utilize your twitter followers. I am no writer, so I am just going to stop here.

Cheers,